Camp Pep: The Un-glamorous, Essential Work

Camp NaNoWriMo is nothing without you, our incredible participants. Today, Lucy Hallowell, a fellow writer, offers you some Camp NaNoWrimo pep:

Okay, I have a weird confession to make. I love to go to bookstores because—oh geez, this is a little embarrassing—I like to picture my book on the shelf. Would the story I am working on have a cover like this one or would I rather one like the book over there in the corner? No, not that one; it’s creepy.

I have another confession. Sometimes, walking around the bookstore and staring at these covers really bums me out. I look at all the people who have managed to write a published novel and dwell on the fact that I haven’t.

I have two daughters. They are seven and four (and a half). While I am incredibly biased, they are fantastic kids. They are smart, funny, adventurous, and polite (most of the time). When we meet people in public, they are often complimentary of our kids.

My daughters are like the books you see on the shelf. It is so easy to walk up to them and see their cute little faces, hear them say polite things, and think, “Wow, those seem like great kids!”

What you don’t see is the middle of the night wake-ups to be fed or changed. You don’t see the time one of them spit up in my father-in-law’s mouth. You don’t hear them scream or cry. You aren’t there to pick up after them every single day. You don’t see the approximately seven hundred billion times we have told them to say “Thank you.” All you see is cute, polite kids.

It’s the same with books; at first glance, you only see how nice their cover art looks. You’re missing the other part; you’re missing the years of writing and rewriting it took to get the books on the shelf.

So, as you immerse yourself in Camp NaNoWriMo, I want to tell you to stop thinking about that book you saw on the NY Times bestseller list that seems so cool. Stop thinking about the how incredible it would be to sit behind a table and have people bring your book up in their sweaty hands to have you sign it. Stop it.

If you want all that amazing stuff, you have to do the unglamorous work. You have to change the diapers and feed the story. It’s not ready for the world yet; it’s barely born! It’s a beautiful, wonderful idea in your glorious brain. Only you can put it on the page. Only you can raise it right.

I want to see your story on the shelves of my local bookstore one day. So come on, it’s time to do the hard work.

Lucy Hallowell lives outside Boston with her wife, two daughters, chocolate Labrador puppy, and beta fish. She tried NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2010 and has been hooked on writing ever since. For the past four years she has been Contributing Writer for AfterEllen.com. Her work has also appeared on Autostraddle.com and other websites. While none of her NaNo or Camp NaNo stories have been published yet, in 2014 she published a gender-bent fairytale retelling called Dragon Slayer . You can also find her on Twitter, @lucyhallowell.